Yazidi Book of Revelation

The Yazidi Book of Revelation (Kitêba Cilwe in Kurdish; also transliterated as Kitab Al Jilwah) is one of two books on the Yazidi religion written in the style of a holy book in the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language, the other being the Yazidi Black Book (Mishefa Reş in Kurdish).[1] It is claimed that the original text of the Book of Revelation is kept in the Yazidi village of Ba'idn and the original text of the Yazidi Black Book is kept in the village of Qasr 'tzz at-Din.[2]

Scholars generally agree that the Book of Revelation and the Black Book, which were published in English translation in 1911 and 1913, are 'forgeries' in the sense they were written by non-Yazidis in response to Western travelers’ and scholars’ interest in the Yazidi religion. Nonetheless they do reflect authentic Yezidi traditions.[3]

The actual core texts of the religion that exist today are the hymns known as qawls.[3]

The Book of Revelation contains five chapters in order of decreasing length. In all five chapters of this book, the words of God are given in the first person, in contrast to the Black Book, which records the acts of God in the third person.

Chapter one of the Book of Revelation discusses the Yazidi doctrine of the nature of God, who is made to declare that he is the author of what "outsiders call evils". The rest of the chapter deals with the exercise of divine power.